109th IPRM Meeting Held in Ergneti
The 109thIncident Prevention and Response Mechanisms (IPRMs) meeting took place on November 10 in Ergneti village, near the occupation line of Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia.
Statement by EUMM
Marek Szczygieł and Viorel Moşanu, co-facilitating the meeting on behalf of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), commended the commitment of the participants to the IPRM. They noted the continued benefits of the temporary openings of the Odzisi and Karzmani crossing points along the Tskhinvali occupation line and advocated for the lifting of freedom of movement restrictions during the upcoming holiday season.
The co-facilitators reiterated their calls for the full re-opening of crossing points along the administrative boundary line for regular cross-ABL traffic and raised the issue of the expiration of crossing documents.
Ambassadors Szczygieł and Moşanu urged for a humanitarian approach toward the resolution of pending detention cases in view of the upcoming holidays. They also insisted on the necessity of their good treatment, in particular, in terms of healthcare.
According to the EUMM, the participants discussed issues that negatively impact the lives and livelihoods of the conflict-affected population, including continued ‘borderisation’ activities. They preliminarily agreed to hold a technical meeting on the topic of the ABL-adjacent population’s access to irrigation and drinking water by mid-March 2023.
The co-facilitators encouraged all participants to commit to collaborative behavior with regard to any security developments along the ABL. They highlighted the need for the effective use of the EUMM-managed Hotline as an indispensable instrument for defusing tensions and building confidence among the IPRM participants.
Statement by State Security Service
The State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) said that during the meeting Tbilisi again stressed the need for “unconditional and immediate release” of Georgian citizens arbitrarily detained by Russian occupying forces.
The participants discussed incidents and illegal actions across the dividing line, including “borderization” and restrictions on freedom of movement.
“A broad discussion was held regarding the issues related to the increased scales of the existing practice of movement through the crossing points,” the SSG said.
Statement by Tskhinvali representative
On his part, Moscow-backed Tskhinvali representative Igor Kochiev said after the meeting that the issues related to the situation “on the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia, violation of the state border and flights by unmanned aerial vehicles” were discussed at the meeting.
Kochiev stressed that like previous meetings, the South Ossetian agenda again focused on the presence of the Georgian police post in the Chorchana-Tsnelisi area.
“We have not reached a consensus and the issue remains unsolved, although the South Ossetian side is doing its utmost to reach a mutually acceptable decision. The post must be removed from the territory of South Ossetia,” RES news agency quoted Kochiev as saying.
Speaking about “the state border violations” by Georgian citizens, Kochiev noted that since the last meeting in Ergneti, six cases of violations were reported, and “all violators were expelled to the territory of Georgia.”
As for the unmanned aerial vehicles, Kochiev said that they could not identify to whom the planes belonged. “The Georgian side, as a rule, claims that the vehicles do not belong to them,” he added.
The next IPRM meeting has been slated for January 17, 2023.
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This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
